Items tagged with Diablo 3

During the weekend the gaming industry has been suffering from a barrage of DDoS attacks. Blizzard’s Battle.net, League of Legends, and Sony’s PlayStation Network are just some of the games and services that have experienced unexpected downtime. However, it appears one hacker group is claiming responsibility for all of these attacks and more. A group called Lizard Squad has been claiming responsibility for bringing down Battle.net, League of Legends, NCSoft, and Sony’s PlayStation Network over the past week on its Twitter account. As of the posting of this article, the organization...Read more...

When Blizzard launched Diablo III, one of the game's most controversial features was the inclusion of a real money and standard auction house. This was an optional component of the game that allowed players to purchase items and equipment for real money. It ran concurrently with the game's traditional auction system and no one was required to use it. Gold could be bought and sold on the RMAH -- if you wanted items that were available on the "regular" auction house, you could buy gold with them on the RMAH, transfer it to your character, and then use it to purchase equipment. The entire system was...Read more...

At Gamescon 2013 in Germany, Blizzard Entertainment unveiled the next chapter in Diablo 3, dubbed Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. The expansion picks up where the original game left off, in what should have been a time of peace and prosperity. The Black Soulstone is safe, the Prime Evils and the Lords of Hell are contained for the first time in millenia. Everything should be great -- right? Well, no, not so much. The game's opening trailer (embedded below) explains that when Tyrael attempted to secure the Soulstone in a secret location, Malthael, the onetime Angel of Wisdom and the current Angel of...Read more...

Blizzard released Patch 1.0.8 for Diablo III yesterday, but the only topic of conversation has been a gold dupe bug that was inadvertently introduced into the game. The problem was devious -- cancel a gold auction, and you received double your gold back. Did we mention that the patch also increased the maximum amount of gold auctionable, from one million to 10 million gold? Yeah. So, auction 10 million gold, hit cancel, get back twenty. Over. And over. And over. Player reports indicate that server prices went nuclear in short order. Dupers spent billions to buy up every rare item and gem, then...Read more...

Creating a stable economy in an online game is difficult to do – and the only people surprised to discover that were Diablo’s game director and the higher ups at Blizzard, it turns out. The game’s auction houses, which let players hawk in-game loot for virtual gold and real-world money, were a bigger draw than its creators expected. The result was bad news for the quality of the game, says former director Jay Wilson. Who knew gold could cause so much trouble? Image credit: Blizzard Wilson, who spent seven years on Diablo III and left the game (though not Blizzard) earlier this...Read more...

Diablo III's launch and first few weeks were a complete disappointment. Even once these problems were ironed out, a number of players complained about major balance problems at the Inferno difficulty level and the static, boring nature of the item hunt once you hit level 60. Blizzard previously acknowledged that the game, as it currently exists, wasn't living up to player expectations. Now the company has gone a step further and begun discussing what it plans to offer to rejuvenate gameplay and make the game more fun. Updated Features, Fresh Design Diablo III's attempt to balance MMO features with...Read more...

Diablo III proved deadly for an 18-year-old gamer who died at an Internet cafe in Taiwan after playing the hack-and-slash title for 40 straight hours without taking a break. Local media reports he didn't eat for nearly two days until he ultimately collapsed and died. Police are currently investigating the official cause of death with the help of an autopsy, but it's expected he died of cardiovascular problems resulting from spending hours and hours in a sedentary position. This is actually the second time someone in Taiwan has died this year from playing videogames. Videogame related deaths aren't...Read more...

Diablo III isn't just a game -- it's a sequel, a social service, and a financial experiment all wrapped up in one. We've discussed the game's structure and balance in our extensive preview as well as its security problems earlier this week. The third part of the game -- the Real (Money) Auction House, or RAH -- won't debut until May 29 at the earliest and therefore won't be covered here. Diablo III will likely go down as one of the most polarizing games of 2012. What follows is a detailed examination of the game's best attributes and a frank discussion of its failures. Diablo III: Graphics,...Read more...

This is one of those little tidbits that breaks like a tactical nuke, not because it's a major policy change, but because the company in question has just revealed an astonishing degree of stupidity and is blissfully ignorant of it. In the wake of massive hacks, Blizzard released a statement reassuring world+dog that it takes our account security very seriously. That's why Battle.net passwords are all case insensitive! Wait, what? Yup! Check this out. These screenshots brought to you buy Vasadan, official Blizzard Quality Assurance staff. The original thread is here, but we wouldn't expect it to...Read more...

Diablo 3 players don't need any more bad news. The game is already staggering from a debut marred by enormous lag spikes, dropped games, and auction house errors. Now, widespread allegations of hacking are taking further chunks out of Blizzard's hide. This time though, there's an added twist: A significant number of those hacked claimed to be using Blizzard Authenticators. This has led to counterclaims that the victims must be lying, as well as a great deal of confused discussion over whether or not such a thing is even possible. To that end, there's something all of you need to understand up front....Read more...

Diablo 3 players don't need any more bad news. The game is already staggering from a debut marred by enormous lag spikes, dropped games, and auction house errors. Now, widespread allegations of hacking are taking further chunks out of Blizzard's hide. This time though, there's an added twist: A significant number of those hacked claimed to be using Blizzard Authenticators. This has led to counterclaims that the victims must be lying, as well as a great deal of confused discussion over whether or not such a thing is even possible. To that end, there's something all of you need to understand up front....Read more...

Diablo III is the sequel to one of the most popular games of all time; its launch on May 15 could cripple college graduation rates, triple the number of insomniacs worldwide, and slash national productivity. Believe us--we know. We've spent about six weeks with the beta and have just recently escaped from Khanduras to detail our findings. This time, there's a twist, however. Our preview is written in two parts; a big-picture examination of the game and a fine-grained, behind-the-scenes look at how Diablo 3 deals with some of the problems and design flaws endemic to its predecessor... Seeking Sanctuary:...Read more...

Diablo III is the sequel to one of the most popular games of all time; its launch on May 15 could cripple college graduation rates, triple the number of insomniacs worldwide, and slash national productivity. Believe us--we know. We've spent about six weeks with the beta and have just recently escaped from Khanduras to detail our findings. This time, there's a twist, however. Our preview is written in two parts; a big-picture examination of the game and a fine-grained, behind-the-scenes look at how Diablo 3 deals with some of the problems and design flaws endemic to its predecessor. End of Days...Read more...

Blizzard's size and success have allowed it to remain one of the only major developers still focused exclusively on the PC, but new job openings posted on the company's website could indicate a multi-platform future. The new opportunities are all related to Diablo III; Blizzard is looking for programmers, designers, and quest script authors. Blizzard's Diablo III community manager Bashiok posted the following in response to various questions and concerns. As some of you may have seen over on the Diablo III home page, we’re currently exploring a Diablo-related concept for consoles. As we’ve...Read more...